US-PH troops prepare for possible war with China

missile as part of a drill in coastal defense.

LIVE-FIRE training, using naval artillery gunfire and aviation rockets and bombs to sink a vessel in the West Philippine Sea, where China continues its aggressive maneuvers. And the first livefiring here of a U.S. Patriot

That’s what the upscaled “Balikatan” joint U.S.Philippines war exercises from April 11 to 28 will highlight. This latest annual event, which started in 2002 on the heels of the U.S. “war on terror,” will deploy 17,000 troops: 12,000 Americans and 5,000 Filipinos.

According to the Philippine military’s announcement last

Tuesday, March 21, the target vessel will be located 22 kilometers from Zambales or 185 kilometers from Panatag Shoal, the traditionally open fishing ground which China seized from the Philippines and controlled since 2012.

“We will be sinking a target vessel using a combination of artillery naval gunfire and aviation weapons… We will be firing HIMARS [HighMobility Artillery Rocket

System], a combination of Philippine Air Force and U.S. Air Force rockets and bombs…,” Balikatan spokesperson Col. Michael Logico was quoted as saying. A symbolic attack on a foreign military vessel (Chinese?). Not symbolic, however, will be the U.S. Army’s livefiring of a Patriot missile in the country. Last year, the U.S. already deployed the Patriot system in a Balikatan mobilization exercise, but didn’t fire any missile. In the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine, the U.S. has provided this weapon system to the Ukrainians, who have used it to counter Russian missile and drone attacks.

Former Philippine Navy vice commander Rommel Jude Ong explained these new aspects of Balikatan 2023:

“seems to be designed to test operational concepts to enhance [the AFP’S] strategic deterrence posture” in the West Philippine Sea.

• The deployment of 12,000 American troops, the expert said, is a logistics exercise “to assess how it can rapidly deploy a large number of troops and equipment in the [war] theater.”

• The vessel-sinking

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• This year’s Balikatan

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